Cubby House
by estranho
Summary: Bella and Alice are childhood best friends. A story of loss and what Bella goes through. All Human


**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight**

I was smiling despite my tears. Memories began to invade my mind in a subconscious attempt to make this hurdle easier to overcome. My beloved Cubby House, sheltered in the huge gum tree branches, located in our spacious backyard, was being torn down. Admittedly, I hadn't entered the Cubby in five years but despite this, it was my place of sanctity for some of the most memorable times of my youth. It was also the tree sheltering a memorial rose garden.

Alice and I were the best of best friends. We were inseparable and joined at the hip, never out of each others sight for a day. We were neighbours. Every minute of the afternoon was spent together in our Cubby. We were lucky enough to have a large tree in our garden, suitable to hold a giant playhouse. It was perfectly placed, in between our houses, with hundreds of leaves to hide our retreat. We wanted to make it like a real house so we decorated it excessively. My father connected the Cubby to a supply of electricity so we put in a kitchen, containing a toaster and mini-bar fridge which was full of sustenance needed to keep us going on our adventures. We also installed numbers of shelves on which we put plates, cups, food, games and photos. We even put two mattresses in there so we could have sleepovers. One of the best items we put in was a portable radio, which we listened and danced to all night long until our legs felt like jelly and we could dance no more. The Cubby was our haven.

Our favourite game was dress-up. We had so many costumes, made out of our mothers' and fathers' old clothes as well as other bits and pieces. The majority of the time was spent in Fairyland. It was our favourite as we were both Princesses. We were Princess Alice who was best friends with me, Princess Bella. We lived in a magical place with gold castles filled with pink and purple walls. The castles also had rooms filled with nothing but toys and games. It was a place of every girl's dreams. We could play for hours in our magic, never tiring of each others ideas.

We sometimes entered into a world of mermaids, under water. We were mermaid princesses there too, swimming with dolphins or playing with the octopus. We had so much fun here but we preferred the magnificent castles the princesses had. We also preferred our fairy costumes which included pink tutus and wings and even a crown made of sticks and leaves.

Everything turned upside down five years ago. It was a rare day for Alice and me as we were separated. I was invited to go along with her family to a reunion but declined. I stayed back to set up the Cubby House, ready for our sleepover that night. I was so excited that by the time I finished I was jumping around the house yelling.

When Alice was two hours late I was panicking. Tears streamed down my face, as I knew something was wrong. Alice was never more than 10 minutes late than anything, let alone two hours. I knew something was wrong by a connection we had to each other as if we were twins. One day we were in different classes. Alice was sitting in her class quietly when she suddenly burst into tears, screaming my name while clutching her arm. At the same time, I had fallen off the jungle gym and broken my arm very badly. This was the same way I knew something was wrong now.

I demanded that my mum call their mobile to make sure. I knew they would have called if they could explain but they hadn't so we needed to call them. All my worst fears were confirmed when my mum paled, tears springing to her eyes and she collapsed into the chair. The police had answered the phone and explained the situation. My Alice, my beautiful Alice, had been killed along with her parents in a car crash with a drunk driver. People tried to do all the could but couldn't save them.

I bolted out the door. I climbed up to the Cubby and dragged myself into our magical land of fairies. Everything was different though. The castles and walls had changed into various shades of grey with all the toy rooms gone. The clouds were full of rain and the sky was stormy. It was not beautiful anymore but empty. Empty because my beautiful Alice was gone, forever.

This was the last time I ever entered the Cubby. It quickly went to ruin with weeds and rubbish and I made no attempt to fix it. I didn't care about it anymore because it was not the place I remembered. Mum suggested we put a memorial garden underneath the Cubby and I agreed, knowing Alice would be able to find our fairy land again even though I couldn't. I knew she would be able to go dancing with the fairies at a royal ball or go swimming with the dolphins in the coral and the caves.

That was five years ago. I grew taller, I learnt ballet, I matured slightly. I still missed Alice every day. I wondered what she'd be up to now if she'd lived. I thought of her as the workmen sawed and chopped and tore down our termite-filled gum tree, meaning the Cubby came down too.

As much as the council took down my childhood haven, I knew I would never lose my Alice. I knew this because I would never lose my memories of her. If I really wanted to and if I believed enough, I could re-enter our magical world full of fairies and mermaids. As long as I remembered.

**AN: There you go. Let me know how it is. Please review. Thank you**


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